Tunde Adebimpe

First known as the co-founder and principal songwriter for <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>, Tunde Adebimpe has established himself as a multi-faceted artist with a career defined by his boundless creativity. <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>'s vibrant mix of post-punk, electronics, soul, funk, and more immediately distinguished the band from their contemporaries within the early 2000s New York scene, and their intense yet inviting sound on 2004's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, 2008's Dear Science, and 2011's Nine Types of Light earned them commercial success as well as critical acclaim. When the band took a break after the clear-eyed meditations of 2014's Seeds, Adebimpe found continued success as an actor, appearing in films such as Twisters, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Marriage Story and TV shows including Adventure Time, Perry Mason, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Adebimpe proved his dedication to passionate, eclectic music remained strong with 2025's funky yet contemplative Thee Black Boltz.

Born to Nigerian immigrant parents, Adebimpe grew up in Pennsylvania. Early on, he displayed a passion for music, visual art, and cartoons and animation in particular (in 1998, he worked on MTV's hilariously brutal claymation series Celebrity Deathmatch as an animator). Adebimpe began his acting career around this time, playing the lead in the 2001 indie film Jump Tomorrow.

While living in Brooklyn, Adebimpe met multi-instrumentalist/producer David Andrew Sitek when he moved into the same building. They had each been recording music on their own, but realized their sounds worked well together, and shared a love of artists as wide-ranging as <a href="spotify:artist:7MSUfLeTdDEoZiJPDSBXgi">Brian Eno</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4QQgXkCYTt3BlENzhyNETg">Earth, Wind & Fire</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1n65zfwYIj5kKEtNgxUlWb">Siouxsie and the Banshees</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5a2EaR3hamoenG9rDuVn8j">Prince</a>. Working together as <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>, their collaboration soon grew into a full-fledged band with critically acclaimed albums such as March 2004's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes and July 2006's Return to Cookie Mountain to their name.

Following the release of <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>'s third album Dear Science -- which peaked at number 12 on the U.S. 200 Albums Chart and was certified gold for its sales throughout Europe -- in September 2008, Adebimpe pursued several solo projects. He scored his first major acting role in Jonathan Demme's 2008 film Rachel Getting Married. Along with an appearance on <a href="spotify:artist:6FXMGgJwohJLUSr5nVlf9X">Massive Attack</a>'s "Pray for Rain," in 2009 he self-published the comic Plague Hero and released a combination single/DVD as Fake Male Voice, playing a handful of shows with <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TVOTR</a> keyboardist Gerard Smith. For the band's next album, April 2011's mellow Nine Types of Light, Adebimpe gathered some of their favorite directors to create segments for a companion film (and directed the video for the song "Forgotten" himself). He then appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:3KH7WsR2JZQ94Ik8SyabU6">Amadou & Mariam</a>'s Grammy-winning 2012 album Folila and formed <a href="spotify:artist:1aA78ZTwEi5YMK2FpLHaiM">Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band</a>. Also featuring <a href="spotify:artist:6xkzfg81aO1xYkeWFzQDHQ">Lone Wolf & Cub</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:6Hawprezl5SMdIX7IfnbBm">Ryan Sawyer</a> and Big Numbers' Alex Holden, the band released its self-titled debut EP on their own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ZNA%22">ZNA</a> label in October 2013.

In November 2014, <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a> issued Seeds, a reflective yet hopeful album shaped by the loss of Smith, who died of lung cancer shortly after Nine Types of Light's release. The band took another break when the Seeds tour wrapped up, and Adebimpe immersed himself in an array of projects. He played a major role in Sebastian Silva's 2015 film Nasty Baby and balanced a successful acting career with making music for the next few years, with TV credits including Adventure Time, The Girlfriend Experience, Perry Mason, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and performances in films such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marriage Story, and Twisters. He collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:34Ai24gPz5YJ8NbksiNFef">Mike Patton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5sEAp7hSgvYjKIEd9r2zBc">Doseone</a> as <a href="spotify:artist:09P3wPH0MvtLnhwfbtzrRq">Nevermen</a>, who released their self-titled debut album in 2016 and appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:4RnBFZRiMLRyZy0AzzTg2C">Run the Jewels</a>' 2017 album Run the Jewels 3, among other projects. Also in 2017, his live multimedia performance A Warm Weather Ghost premiered at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center.

Around the time that <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a> reunited in 2018 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Dear Science's release and played a 2019 show at Madison Square Garden opening for <a href="spotify:artist:3jOstUTkEu2JkjvRdBA5Gu">Weezer</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6zvul52xwTWzilBZl6BUbT">Pixies</a>, Adebimpe began work on his debut solo album. Five years in the making, the album's songs were shaped by the COVID-19 global pandemic and the death of his beloved younger sister. While working on the album with <a href="spotify:artist:3zB78nmoM4ngB0k0bJ2dsm">Chin Chin</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4RnBFZRiMLRyZy0AzzTg2C">Run the Jewels</a> multi-instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:6t6IlKgI1nffZNQMV74l5e">Wilder Zoby</a>, Adebimpe recorded a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:4wLIbcoqmqI4WZHDiBxeCB">Sleater-Kinney</a>'s "The Drama You've Been Craving" for 2022's Dig Me In: A Dig Me Out Covers Album and celebrated the 20th anniversary of Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes' release with a brief <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a> tour in 2024. Arriving in April 2025 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sub+Pop%22">Sub Pop</a>, Thee Black Boltz paired confessional songwriting with sounds that echoed and departed from the work of Adebimpe's band. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi